Psalm 86A prayer of David.1 Hear me, Lord, and answer
me, for I am
poor and needy.2 Guard my life, for I am
faithful to you; save your
servant who trusts in you.You are my God; 3 have mercy
on me, Lord, for I call
to you all day long.4 Bring joy to your servant,
Lord, for I put
my trust in you.5 You, Lord, are forgiving and
good, abounding
in love to all who call to you.6 Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to
my cry for mercy.7 When I am in distress, I
call to you, because you
answer me.8 Among the gods there is none
like you, Lord; no deeds
can compare with yours.9 All the nations you have
made will come
and worship before you, Lord; they will
bring glory to your name.10 For you are great and do
marvelous deeds; you alone
are God.11 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may
rely on your faithfulness;give me an undivided heart, that I may
fear your name.12 I will praise you, Lord my
God, with all my heart; I will glorify
your name forever.13 For great is your love
toward me; you have
delivered me from the depths, from the
realm of the dead.14 Arrogant foes are attacking
me, O God; ruthless
people are trying to kill me— they have
no regard for you.15 But you, Lord, are a
compassionate and gracious God, slow to
anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.16 Turn to me and have mercy
on me; show your
strength in behalf of your servant;save me, because I serve you just as my
mother did.17 Give me a sign of your
goodness, that my
enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you,
Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Psalm 87

Psalm 87Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
A song.

1 He has founded his city on
the holy mountain.2 The Lord loves the gates of
Zion more than
all the other dwellings of Jacob.3 Glorious things are said of
you, city of
God:[a]4 “I will record
Rahab[b] and Babylon among those
who acknowledge me—Philistia too, and Tyre, along
with Cush[c]— and will
say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”[d]5 Indeed, of Zion it will be
said,“This one and that one were born in her, and the
Most High himself will establish her.”6 The Lord will write in the
register of the peoples:“This one was born in Zion.”7 As they make music they will
sing,“All my fountains are in you.”

Psalm 88

Psalm 88[a]

A song. A psalm of the Sons of
Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth.[b] A
maskil[c] of Heman the Ezrahite.

1 Lord, you are the God who
saves me; day and
night I cry out to you.2 May my prayer come before
you; turn your
ear to my cry.3 I am overwhelmed with
troubles and my life
draws near to death.4 I am counted among those who
go down to the pit; I am like
one without strength.5 I am set apart with the
dead, like the slain
who lie in the grave,whom you remember no more, who are cut
off from your care.6 You have put me in the
lowest pit, in the
darkest depths.7 Your wrath lies heavily on
me; you have
overwhelmed me with all your waves.[d]8 You have taken from me my
closest friends and have
made me repulsive to them.I am confined and cannot
escape;9 my
eyes are dim with grief.I call to you, Lord, every
day; I spread
out my hands to you.10 Do you show your wonders to
the dead? Do their spirits
rise up and praise you?11 Is your love declared in
the grave, your
faithfulness in Destruction[e]?12 Are your wonders known in
the place of darkness, or your
righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?13 But I cry to you for help,
Lord; in the
morning my prayer comes before you.14 Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide
your face from me?15 From my youth I have
suffered and been close to death; I have
borne your terrors and am in despair.16 Your wrath has swept over
me; your terrors
have destroyed me.17 All day long they surround
me like a flood; they have
completely engulfed me.18 You have taken from me
friend and neighbor— darkness is
my closest friend.

Psalm 89

Psalm 89[a]A maskil[b] of Ethan the
Ezrahite.

1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my
mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all
generations.2 I will declare that your
love stands firm forever, that you
have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have
sworn to David my servant,4 ‘I will
establish your line forever and make
your throne firm through all generations.’”[c]5 The heavens praise your
wonders, Lord, your
faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.6 For who in the skies above
can compare with the Lord? Who is like
the Lord among the heavenly beings?7 In the council of the holy
ones God is greatly feared; he is more
awesome than all who surround him.8 Who is like you, Lord God
Almighty? You, Lord,
are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.9 You rule over the surging
sea; when its
waves mount up, you still them.10 You crushed Rahab like one
of the slain; with your
strong arm you scattered your enemies.11 The heavens are yours, and yours
also the earth; you founded
the world and all that is in it.12 You created the north and
the south; Tabor and
Hermon sing for joy at your name.13 Your arm is endowed with
power; your hand
is strong, your right hand exalted.14 Righteousness and justice
are the foundation of your throne; love and
faithfulness go before you.15 Blessed are those who have
learned to acclaim you, who walk in
the light of your presence, Lord.16 They rejoice in your name
all day long; they
celebrate your righteousness.17 For you are their glory and
strength, and by your
favor you exalt our horn.[d]18 Indeed, our shield[e]
belongs to the Lord, our king to
the Holy One of Israel.19 Once you spoke in a vision, to your
faithful people you said:“I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have
raised up a young man from among the people.20 I have found David my
servant; with my
sacred oil I have anointed him.21 My hand will sustain him; surely my
arm will strengthen him.22 The enemy will not get the better
of him; the wicked
will not oppress him.23 I will crush his foes
before him and strike
down his adversaries.24 My faithful love will be
with him, and through
my name his horn[f] will be exalted.25 I will set his hand over
the sea, his right
hand over the rivers.26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the
Rock my Savior.’27 And I will appoint him to
be my firstborn, the most
exalted of the kings of the earth.28 I will maintain my love to
him forever, and my
covenant with him will never fail.29 I will establish his line
forever, his throne
as long as the heavens endure.30 “If his sons
forsake my law and do not
follow my statutes,31 if they violate my decrees and fail to
keep my commands,32 I will punish their sin
with the rod, their
iniquity with flogging;33 but I will not take my love
from him, nor will I
ever betray my faithfulness.34 I will not violate my
covenant or alter
what my lips have uttered.35 Once for all, I have sworn
by my holiness— and I will
not lie to David—36 that his line will continue
forever and his
throne endure before me like the sun;37 it will be established
forever like the moon, the
faithful witness in the sky.”38 But you have rejected, you
have spurned, you have been
very angry with your anointed one.39 You have renounced the
covenant with your servant and have
defiled his crown in the dust.40 You have broken through all
his walls and reduced
his strongholds to ruins.41 All who pass by have
plundered him; he has
become the scorn of his neighbors.42 You have exalted the right
hand of his foes; you have
made all his enemies rejoice.43 Indeed, you have turned
back the edge of his sword and have
not supported him in battle.44 You have put an end to his
splendor and cast
his throne to the ground.45 You have cut short the days
of his youth; you have
covered him with a mantle of shame.46 How long, Lord? Will you
hide yourself forever? How long
will your wrath burn like fire?47 Remember how fleeting is my
life. For what
futility you have created all humanity!48 Who can live and not see
death, or who can
escape the power of the grave?49 Lord, where is your former
great love, which in
your faithfulness you swore to David?50 Remember, Lord, how your
servant has[g] been mocked, how I bear
in my heart the taunts of all the nations,51 the taunts with which your
enemies, Lord, have mocked, with which
they have mocked every step of your anointed one.52 Praise be to the Lord
forever!Amen and Amen.